High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Analysis of S-Adenosylmethionine and S-Adenosylhomocysteine in Rat Liver

Abstract
A sensitive and precise high performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous quantitation of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) in rat liver is described. Liver is extracted by homogenization in 1.5 M PCA. SAMe and SAH are purified from contaminating substances by chromatography on Dowex 50 W × 2 and analyzed by HPLC on conventional styrene-type anion exchanger. Analytical chromatography, performed under i-socratic elution conditions, is achieved in 18 min. SAH is determined as such while SAMe as adenine after hydrolysis at 60°C, un der alkaline conditions. The sensitivity of the analytical proce dure allows the determination of SAMe and SAH in less than 200 mg of liver sample.